Yarn-feeding means for knitting machines

ABSTRACT

A yarn-feeding system for drawing off yarn from a plurality of cones thereof and for feeding the same to a multifeed knitting machine wherein a plurality of rotating yarn-feeding rollers each have a pulley atop thereof and wherein an endless garter spring drive band encircles each of the pulleys. In one form of the invention an endless tape is driven by the machine to drive the rollers, the pulleys and the endless spring drive band while in a second form the endless spring drive band is driven by the machine to drive the pulleys and the rollers. The yarns are encircled about the rollers a plural number of times in spaced relation by wrapping the yarns about the rollers and between the successive spread-apart coils of a spring, the yarns thereafter being fed from the end of the spring.

United States Patent [72] lnventors Nathan Levin 722 Edgewood Ave.,Trenton, NJ. 08618; Thomas Anderson Oliver, Jr., 319 Summit Ave.,Jenkintown, Pa. 19046 [21] Appl. No. 802,181 [22] Filed Feb. 25, 1969[45] Patented Apr. 13, 1971 [54] YARN-FEEDING MEANS FOR KNITTINGMACHINES 5 Claims, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] US. Cl 66/132 [51] Int. Cl D04b 15/48 [50] Field of Search 66/132,132

[56] References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 3,361,317 l/l968 Levin66/132(T)(X) FOREIGN PATENTS 1,241,501 8/1960 France 66/132 1,385,66212/1964 France 66/132 909,071 10/ 1962 Great Britain 66/132 1,050,51012/ 1966 Great Britain 66/132(T) Primary Examiner-Robert R. MackeyAtt0rneyNathan Levin ABSTRACT: A yam-feeding system for drawing off yarnfrom a plurality of cones thereof and for feeding the same to amultifeed knitting machine wherein a plurality of rotating yam-feedingrollers each have a pulley atop thereof and wherein an endless garterspring drive band encircles each of the pulleys. In one form ofthe-invention an endless tape is driven by the machine to drive therollers, the pulleys and the endless spring drive band while in a secondform the endless spring drive band is driven by the machine to drive thepulleys and the rollers. The yarns are encircled about the rollers aplural number of times in spaced relation by wrapping the yarns aboutthe rollers and between the successive spread-' apart coils of a spring,the yarns thereafter being fed from the end of the spring.

Patented April 13, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patentd April 13, 1971 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig.4.

lllllllllllllllllllll' YARN-FEEDING MEANS FOR KNITTING MACHINES Thepresent invention relates generally to the art of knitting and moreparticularly to improvements in the tape and roller yam-feeding systemand in the roller yam-feeding system used on multifeed knitting machinesfor drawing yarns from the cones thereof and for feeding the same to themachines.

The conventional tape and roller yarn-feeding system presently used inthe knitting art for the drawing off of yarns from the cones thereof andfor feeding the same to the needles at the several feeds of multiplefeed knitting machines, as disclosed in the US. Fat. to Rosen, No.3,090,215, issued May 21, 1963, is generally satisfactory so long asthere is no undue amount of excess tension in the yarns between theircones and the tape and rollers. When there is a sufficient amount ofexcess tension in the yarn, then, particularly when nylon yarn or thelike, which is relatively strong, is being fed, the yarn, instead ofbeing fed normally by the tape and roller system will (not considering,at this time, the effect of the stop motion) pull through or will sliprelative to the tape and roller (even when the tape is tightlytensioned) with the result that continued taking of the excessivelytensioned yarn by the needles will cause the yarn to break, usually atthe needle line, and the fabric will be pressed off, at least in part,from the machine. Obviously, press offs are undesirable. An undue amountof excess tension in the yarn occurs, from time to time, as resistancedevelops, from time to time, to the unwinding of the yarn from its cone,such resistance to unwinding usually being caused by the manner in whichthe yarn cone was wound or is being unwound. The amount of resistance tounwinding may vary from cone to cone and may also vary from place toplace in the same cone.

The operation of the conventional stop motions used in conjunction withthe tape and roller yarn-feeding system and through which the yarns passas they are drawn off of their cones for feeding to the needles of themachine, is also generally satisfactory so long as there is no undueamount of excess tension, of the type above set forth, in the yarnspassing therethrough. Such conventional stop motions are of the typewhich will stop the machine in the event that either one of twoconditions should occur, one, should the yarn run out with the endthereof passing through the stop motion fingers and, two, should therebe tension in the yarn passing through the stop motion which is inexcess of a preset minimum amount thereof as may be predetermined bysuitable adjustment of the stop motion and in which event the yarn willbe pulled off the stop motion.

It is the custom to adjust the stop motions so as to be effective tostop the machine when the amount of excess tension developing in theyarn passing therethrough is less, and often much less for the sake ofsafety, than that amount of excess tension in the yarn which would causeit to pull through the tape and roller. While this permits the machineto be run without the dangers of fabric press offs, it does cause themachine, when faulty cones are being used, to be subject to frequentstoppage, the frequency of which is determined by the frequency withwhich such excessive amounts of tension develop in the yarn. Should itbe a particularly bad cone of yarn, the stopping may be so frequent asto make it desirable to discard the same. If, to overcome such undesiredstopping of the machine, the stop motions are so adjusted as not to beoperable by excessively tensioned yarns, then such tensioned yarns maypull through the tape and roller, break at the needle line and cause themachine to press off. This, too, is obviously undesirable.

it is, accordingly, the principal object of the present invention toprovide means for yarn feeding and a method of operating the same whichwill overcome the above pointed out objectionable features of the tapeand roller yarn feeding system as well as those of the stop motionoperation.

it is an important object of the invention to provide means to feed theyarns in such manner that should a yarn break as the result of an undueamount of excess tension therein, such breakage of the yarn will occurbetween its cone and the yamfeeding means.

It is also an object of the invention to provide means in a tape androller yarn-feeding system to prevent slippage between the tape and therollers.

It is a further object of the invention to operate a tape and rolleryarn-feeding system in such manner as to prevent excessively tensionedyarns from slipping relative to the tape and rollers.

it is a still further object of the invention to provide yarnfeedingmeans which will permit the lowering of the level at which the stopmotions of a machine may be positioned and which will permitmodifications of the stop motions.

With the above and other objects in view, such as less down time for themachine with less of the operators time needed per machine, less wastageof improperly wound cones,.better fabric, constant yam-feeding tensionand improvement in output per machine, which will become apparent fromthe following detailed description of illustrative embodiments of theinvention shown in the accompanying drawings, the present inventionresides in the novel elements of construction, combination of parts andmethod of operation of the yarn-feeding means illustrated and ashereinafter particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a front elevational view of part of a multiple feedrevolving-type of circular knitting machine showing a conventional tapeand roller yarn-feeding system and also showing the garter spring driveband of the present invention operatively related to and driven by therollers;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view, partly broken away, showing in planthe machine and associated parts shown in FIG. 1 as taken on line 2-2thereof with the tape driven from a machine-driven pulley;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view, partly broken away, showing theyarn-feeding arrangement at each feed of the machine including tape,roller, a pulley atop the roller, the garter spring drive bandencircling the pulley, a vertically positioned spring yarn guide and aplural number of turns of the yarn under the tape and about the rollerand the spring;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view, partly broken away, of the yarn feedroller and associate parts shown in FIG. 3 as taken on line M thereof;

FIG. 5 is a detail view showing the manner in which the spring acts tospace the turns of the yarn on the roller and then to guide it to themachine;

H6. 6 is a detail view of a modified form of the invention showing thegarter spring drive band around and driven directly by the machinedriven pulley and in which the tape is eliminated; and

FIG. 7 is a view generally similar td FIG. 3 but showing the modifiedform of the invention wherein the garter spring drive band is driven asshown in FIG. 6, wherein the tape is eliminated and wherein the yarnencircles a friction-surfaced roller a plural number of times to bedriven thereby for drawing the same from its cone and for feeding it tothe machine.

A first form of the yarnfeeding means of the present invention is shownin FIGS. ll through 5 wherein it is applied to a multiple feed revolvingcylinder-type of circular knitting machine, although it should beunderstood that the invention is not so limited and may also be usedwith any of the usual types of knitting machinery.

As shown in FIG. l, a driven bevel gear 10 engages with and drives alarge bevel gear ring 11 to rotate the needle cylinder of the machinewithin its cam ring 12. Bevel gears l3, 13, one rotating with bevel gear10 and the other fixed on the lower end of a suitably joumaled uprightshaft 14, acts to drive the latter and a chain sprocket l5 fixed on itsupper end. By means of an endless chain 16 trained about sprocket l5 andaround a chain sprocket l7 fixed to the lower end of a suitably joumaledupright shaft 18, the chain drives the shaft 1b and an adjustablediameter pulley l9 fixed to the upper end of shaft Id. The pulley 19which may be of the type disclosed in the US. Pat. to Rosen, No.3,243,09l, issued Mar. 29, 1966, is used to drive an endless tape 20 atdesirably regulated speeds,

the tape being trained about the pulley 19 and over a plurality ofrollers 21 equally spaced about the circumference of the machine, FIG.2, to drive the same, the arrangement comprising the conventional tapeand roller yam-feeding system disclosed in the said Rosen patents.Another example of roller yarn-feeding to multifeed machines isdisclosed in the US. Pat. to Levin, one of the present applicants, No.3,361,317 issued Jan. 2, 1968. Each of the rollers 21 has a verticallydisposed yarn guide spacing spring 22, FIGS. 3 and 5, associatedtherewith. Also associated with each of the rollers 21 is an annularlyshaped single-flange pulley 23 suitably affixed atop and made a partthereof. An endless garter spring drive band 24 completely encircleseach of the pulleys 23 and, as may be seen in F103. 3 and 4, it overliesa portion of itself in such encircling arrangement, the band beingdisposed so as to move between and to be guided by the single flange 23aof each pulley 23 and the upper side 21a of its associated roller 21which functions as a second opposing flange for the pulley. The normaltendency of an encircling drive band, such as the garter spring 24, isto move along the axis of a pulley driven thereby, however, in thiscase, such movement of the band 2 is restrained by the flanges 21a and23a and its tendency to climb upon itself is overcome by its smoothcircularly shaped surface which causes the band to be axially displacedas it passes over the pulleys 23. lt may be seen in H0. 2 that while theband 24 encircles each of the pulleys 23 at a level above that of thetape 20, it does not, in this modification, extend around the tapedriving pulley 19. Thus the spring band 24, which is self-tensioned, isdriven by all of the rollers 21 and since it encircles the pulleys 23without appreciable slippage therebetween, the band 24 serves to keepthe rollers 21 in fixed rotary relation to each other and preventsslippage of the rollers 21 relative to the band 24 and to the tape 20.It may be pointed out that the tape has a greater amount of drivingcontact with pair of the rollers 21b, 21b than it does with theremainder of the rollers and that the driving of these rollers 21b, 21bcontributes to the driving of the band 24 encircling them. The band 24,which is formed of closely wound coils of spring wire and which issufficiently resistant to elongation, is generally satisfactory,however, it will be understood that other types of drive bands, belts orchains may be used in conjunction with appropriately shaped pulleys, forthe same purpose. While the band 24 is shown as encircling the pulleys23, it is within the scope of the present invention to eliminate thepulleys and to encircle the rollers 21 directly with the band 2A at alevel spaced from the yarns thereon. While the pulleys 23 have beenshown as being secured atop the rollers 21 and made a part thereof by adiametrically spaced pair of screws 25, 25 extending upwardly throughsuitably formed apertures in the rollers 21, into threaded engagementwith the pulleys 23, the latter may be made integral with the rollers21. It may be pointed out that the conventional rollers 21 have theirmantle or tape engaging periphery made of metal, presently in the formof a series of adjacent vertically disposed hardened pins set in theupper and lower sides thereof and that presently the tape 20 is made ofplastic material.

The machine is provided with four equally spaced uprights 26 set in itsbase to support a yoke 27 at their upper ends. This yoke, in turn,supports a central upright rod 28 to which is secured an intermediatelevel yarn guide ring 29 and an upper level ring 30 having a series ofamis 31 radiating therefrom and upon the ends of which are secured alike series of conventional stop motions 32. These stop motions are ofthe type which may be actuated to stop the machine in the event that ayarn end runs out through the same or in the event that an undue amountof excess tension develops in the yarn passing therethrough and whichcauses the yarn to be pulled from the stop motion, the stop motionsbeing adjustable to preset the same for the amount of excess yarntension which will cause them to be actuated. Below the yoke 27 there isa horizontally disposed annularly shaped ring 33 which surrounds and issuitably supported by the uprights 26. A series of circumferentiallyspaced radiating arms 34, fastened at their inner ends to the upper faceof ring 33, provide support at their outer ends for a like series ofyarn cones 35. A similarly disposed series of arms 36, fastened at theirinner ends to the lower face of ring 33, provides support at their outerends for the rollers 21, the pulleys 23 and the yarn guides. A plate 37,secured to one pair of the uprights 26, P10. 2, provides a base uponwhich the shaft 18 is journaled while an extension 38 of the plate 37provides a bearing support for the upper end of the shaft 14. Alsodisposed upon the plate 37 is a pivotally mounted lever 39 having anidler roller 40 at one end thereof which yieldingly engages the tape 20to tension the same, the roller 40 being urged toward the tape 20 by aspring 41 suitably attached to the other end ofthe lever 39 and to theplate 37.

The yarn, indicated at Y, from each cone 35 thereof extends upwardly topass through stop motion 32, then downwardly through guide ring 29, thenthrough a suitable orifice in a yarn guide 42, HO. 3, then forms aplural number of spaced turns about the roller 21 (under tape 20) andthe spring yam spacing guide 22 and finally passes through the lowerterminal coil of the spring guide to the needles of the knittingmachine. The guide 42 is a downward extension of arm 42a and the spring22 depends from the end portion of an arm 22a to which it is secured bymeans of a screw 22!; extending through a suitably formed aperture inthe arm 22a into threaded engagement with coils of the upper portion ofthe spring 22. The successive turns of the moving yarn Y are maintainedin spaced relation upon the mantle of roller 21 by being wrapped betweensuitable ones of successive spaced coils of the spring 22, FIG. 5,between the successive turns of the yarn Y on the roller 21, the yarnmoving in the direction of the arrows thereon in H0. 5 during itsfeeding movement. The yarn Y is caused to feed through the lowermostcoil of the spring 22 either by drawing it lengthwise through the springfrom the point of its last contact with a coil thereof or by simplywrapping the yarn between the remaining spring coils whereupon it willemerge from the terminal coil. The roller 21 with pulley 23 atopthereof, the arms 42a and 220, which may be adjusted angularly withrespect to the vertical axis of the roller 21, F108. 3 and 4, areaffixed to the arm 36 by means of a suitable shouldered screw 43extending upwardly through suitable apertures in the roller 21, the arm22a, the arm 42a and the arm 36 into threaded engagement with a holdingnut 43a, the roller 21 being free to rotate upon the shouldered screwwhile the two arms 22a and 42a are fixedly held in suitably adjustedpositions.

By virtue of the plurality of spaced turns of the yarn about the roller21 and the spring 22, by the like plurality ofincrease in the amount ofyarn in contact with the tape 20 over that shown in the Rosen patents,and by the lack of slippage between tape 20 and roller 21, the feedingof the yarn Y is positive with constant tension and rate of travel inthe portion of the yarn between tape and roller and the needles of themachine, such tension remaining unaffected by any changes in tension inthe portion of the yarn between tape and roller and the yarn cones. Itwill be noted that since excess tensions which may develop in theportion of the yarn between yarn cone and tape and roller cannot betransmitted to the portion of the yarn between tape and roller and theneedles, it follows that there can be no fabric press offs due toexcessively tensioned yarn reaching the needles of the machine.

The stop motions, in the practice of the present invention, arepreferably set so that a substantially greater than the usual amount ofexcess tension in the portions of the yarns between their cones and thetape and rollers is required for the stop motions to be actuated. Suchgreater amount of tension may, if desired, be an amount just short ofthe amount which would break the yarns. With such setting of the stopmotions, the yarns in which lesser amounts of excess tension occurs fromtime to time will continue to be drawn off their cones without stoppingthe machine even though such lesser amounts of excess tension aregreater than the normal amount of tension in the yarns and wouldordinarily stop the machine with the usual setting of the stop motions.Thus the machine will continue to run safely even though there is suchresistance to the unwinding of the yarn as would ordinarily be effectiveto stop the machine. However, should the unusually great amount ofexcess tension develop in the yarns for which the stop motions were set,the machine would stop and yarn breakage would be avoided, but even ifthe yarns did break, such break would be between the yarn cones and tapeand roller where it would be hannless to the machine.

The plural number of turns of the yarn Y about the roller 21 and spring22 performs two functions. One, there is an increase, in directproportion to the number of turns, in the amount of yarn in contact withthe tape and this accordingly increases the resistance to slippage ofthe yarn between roller 21 and the tape 20. Second, the length of yarnmaking up the plural number of turns (approximately 7 inches per turnabout a 2-inch diameter roller 21 and the spring 22) provides a reservesupply and increases the length thereof between the cones and theneedles of the machine. Accordingly, the level of the stop motions 32may, if desired, be safely lowered a distance equal to one-half thelength of the said reserve supply of yarn without reducing the length ofyarn normally present between the yarn cones and the needles of themachine. While the number of turns of the yarn Y about the roller 21 andspring 22 may be more or less, it has been found that excellent resultsare obtained with from three to six turns thereof.

A'modified form of the invention is shown in the FIGS. 6 and 7 whereinthe advantages of the garter spring band drive and of the plural numberof turns of the yarn about the rollers and springs are included. in themodification, the tape 20 is eliminated and the spring band 24 istrained about and is driven directly by the machine band 24 stillencircling all of the pulleys 23 including the pair associated with therollers 21b, 21b, to directly drive all of the rollers 21. The springband 24 is driven, in this modification, directly by the pulley 19,whereas in the earlier set forth modification, it is driven indirectlyby the pulley 19 via the tape 20 and rollers 21. In addition to the band24 being selftensioning and requiring no idler roller pressing thereon,it is also self-adjusting when changes are made in the diameter of thepulley 19 for corresponding changes in the linear speed of the band 24.There is a change in the construction of the rollers 21 in that they arefriction-surfaced, as shown by the friction material 21c, FIG. 7, sothat the yarns do not slip on driven pulley l9, FIG. 6, the

the surface 21c as they rotate with the rollers during the yarn feeding.In all other respects the modification shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 is similarto the modification shown in FIGS.- 1 through 5 and like characters areused to designate like parts in both modifications. While the members 21have been herein referred to as rollers, they may also be referred to asyarn feed wheels and may be of any desired conformation.

While the screw 22b may be right-hand or left-hand threaded, withcorresponding right-hand or left-hand coils in the spring 22, it ispreferred that the screw be left-hand threaded and that the spring beleft-hand coiled in order that the yarn Y may be arranged as shown bywrapping it about the roller 21 and spring 22 and then about the spring22 in like one-way circular movements in the same direction.

We claim:

1. In a yam-feeding device for a multifeed circular knitting machine todraw a plurality of yarns from a plurality of cones thereof and to feedthe same to the needles of said machine at the feeds thereof, aplurality of circumferentially spaced yamfeeding rollers, an endlessyarn-feeding tape driven by said machine in timed relation therewith andtrained over said rollers to drive the same, means to guide said yarnsfrom their cones to and between said tape and rollers and to guide saidyarns away therefrom thereby to draw said yarns from their cones and tofeed the same to the needles of said machine at the feeds thereof, saidyarns being in direct engagement with the proximate surfaces of saidtape and of said rollers, the com matron therewith of a pulleyoperatlvely related to each of said rollers to rotate therewith and anendless garter spring band trained over and movable with said pulleys.

2. In a yarn-feeding device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said yarnguiding means includes spaced coil springs individually associated withsaid rollers, each of said springs extending freely from a support forone end portion thereof and permitting individual ones of said yarns tobe wrapped about a roller and between the coils of its associated springa plural number of times and then to extend lengthwise through the freeend thereof.

3. In a yarn-feeding device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said springsare left-hand-wound springs.

4. in a yam-feeding device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said pulleysare of single-flange construction, wherein said pulleys are secured atopsaid rollers and wherein said single flanges of said pulleys are spacedfrom said rollers.

5. In a yarn-feeding device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said springband is driven by said rollers.

1. In a yarn-feeding device for a multifeed circular knitting machine todraw a plurality of yarns from a plurality of cones thereof and to feedthe same to the needles of said machine at the feeds thereof, aplurality of circumferentially spaced yarnfeeding rollers, an endlessyarn-feeding tape driven by said machine in timed relation therewith andtrained over said rollers to drive the same, means to guide said yarnsfrom their cones to and between said tape and rollers and to guide saidyarns away therefrom thereby to draw said yarns from their cones and tofeed the same to the needles of said machine at the feeds thereof, saidyarns being in direct engagement with the proximate surfaces of saidtape and of said rollers, the combination therewith of a pulleyoperatively related to each of said rollers to rotate therewith and anendless garter spring band trained over and movable with said pulleys.2. In a yarn-feeding device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said yarnguiding means includes spaced coil springs individually associated withsaid rollers, each of said springs extending freely from a support forone end portion thereof and permitting individual ones of said yarns tobe wrapped about a roller and between the coils of its associated springa plural number of times and then to extend lengthwise through the freeend thereof.
 3. In a yarn-feeding device as set forth in claim 2 whereinsaid springs are left-hand-wound springs.
 4. In a yarn-feeding device asset forth in claim 1 wherein said pulleys are of single-flangeconstruction, wherein said pulleys are secured atop said rollers andwherein said single flanges of said pulleys are spaced from saidrollers.
 5. In a yarn-feeding device as set forth in claim 1 whereinsaid spring Band is driven by said rollers.